I’ve been a bit intrigued about this picture posted on the Bishop, CA DHP’s Facebook page, titled “American Muscle vs. CHP”. It just struck me as a bit too unreal for a genuine roadside assist of a motorist in distress, because of a number of details which I won’t repeat now, but you can read them all in my update on that post. After a comment was left there by someone who claimed to be a CHP officer claiming it was real, I decided to follow up, by calling the Bishop CHP office. Now I have the full details, and no, Officer Bol wasn’t exactly assisting “a stranded motorist”.
I spoke to the Public Information officer there, and here’s what happened: Officer Chris Bol was assigned as an escort to a professional photo shoot unit at that location involving some classic vintage cars like the pristine Camaro. At some point, the driver of the Camaro needed to make a U turn, and the front wheels of the Camaro sagged a bit into the softer dirt/sand at the edge of the road. The driver of the Camaro was apparently very indelicate with the throttle attached to the high performance V8 under its hood, and spun the rear wheels unnecessarily in trying to back up. Officer Bol decided to help the driver by giving some verbal direction as well as a physical boost. The dust being thrown up was the driver still being heavy-footed with the throttle and/or clutch. Or maybe purposefully creating a better picture for the film crew shooting this. That part we’ll never know. The driver’s facial expression does seem to suggest a fairly high degree of self-awareness that this is a photo-op in the making. Or staging.
So the reality is of course somewhere in the middle of the question/dispute as to whether this was real or staged. It certainly wasn’t real in this being a stranded motorist and Officer Bol just happening to come across him and providing the critical push to get him out of the ditch. Motorists getting stuck on back roads is not that uncommon, and the normal response is for 911 or the highway patrol to provide a phone number of a towing company. It almost invariably takes more than a single person’s push to extricate a car that’s truly stuck in soft sand, and it’s not exactly the CHP’s job, although they have been known to help if they happen to be there and it’s withing their ability and…willingness to provide it.
In this case, Officer Bol was on escort, which means the film company was likely/undoubtedly paying the CHP office for his services. And of course it’s highly debatable as to the specifics of the incident, meaning if Officer Bol hadn’t been there, undoubtedly other members of the film crew would have provided any necessary assistance or pushing, if it really was necessary. It would appear that some gentle feathering of the gas and clutch would have done the job too. But apparently Officer Bol wanted to make them feel that he was earning his (likely overtime) pay, and he jumped in and took charge. Or something like that. Which in any case made for a great photo opportunity.
Back to our regular programming…
Thank you for this research Paul. I got a chuckle out of the response of M. G. “Iron Mike” Tolsdorf. Who on Earth refers to *themselves* with a nickname given to them by others?
“Hello, I’m John “Black Jack” Pershing. You may call me “Black Jack”. 🙂
He said the case was “well-documented”. Maybe in his circles. But certainly not on the web for the public to know.
Since he (apparently) knew what actually transpired, it would have been nice if Occifer Tolsdorf had provided the entire story, instead of letting Paul do the research.
Oh, wait, he’s a cop. Never mind…
Lol… That was my point. For someone in a career of service to the public, he seemed as interested in being condescending as helpful.
“For someone in a career of service to the public, he seemed as interested in being condescending as helpful.”
That’s got to be as good a description of a cop as I’ve ever seen.
I did the same thing with my truck once except the front tires sank into some Maine marine clay with a sprinkle of gravel on top. Not enough traction in reverse to pull ’em out. I didn’t have the CHP, but I did have a spade!
Thanks for following up Paul. Obviously I’m not meant for a career in investigative journalism … it never would have occurred to me to call the CHP. But good to know that some people are still willing to take these cars off the pavement, even if it was for a photo shoot and not just for the heck of it.
Here’s one for you then. As a real XY Falcon GT and not a replica, the value would be well over AUD$100k…
https://youtu.be/4y6kMej-Bio
Its going up in value faster than the stone chips knock it around, real cars can stand gravel roads.
I pretty much guessed right. Real and staged
Now whether it’s staged or not, I’m a little more cynical about given the fact that it’s a mint 68 Camaro SS. If real I would guess it’s part of some tv/movie/commercial/magazine/internet shoot and CHP was on site for some reason, maybe to block the traffic for the shoot.
I have a white car and if i drove it down that road it would look filthy, this looks like it rolled right off an enclosed truck
When my friends ’63 XKE overheated in a construction zone and they pulled the cones while he left to get water, the friendly CHP officer ordered me behind the wheel and was going to push the car with his cruiser crash bar, that would have bashed up the rear end of it’s delicate body. Luckily he got back just as I got behind the wheel and the officer proceeded to inform him what a POS his car was and how lucky he was to arrive when he did.
Good follow up! I am surprised it’s not photoshopped, as I said in the other post, because it is abusing that mint car. I hope it was the owner who was driving, because I would be pissed if I was the owner and somebody I was renting or loaning my car to did that.
Thank you Officer Iron Mike for the clarification/obfuscation and the insult!
Leaving the picture debate aside for a moment, I’d like to add a personal note. This past winter a local Pennsylvania officer helped push me out of a ditch on a sleety, miserable, dangerous night, for which I’m eternally grateful. That would’ve been a long, cold wait for the tow truck. No profound message, just thanks to you and all the other officers doing good work.
I’ve had some very good experiences with police and some not-so good experiences. They’re human, and come in a large variety.
I’m not trying to impugn the CHP in anyway here, but clearly there’s a bit more puff than substance, especially in relation to the misleading title of their Facebook posting.
Thank you, Paul, for giving us all…………….the rest of the story. With apologies to Paul Harvey. Like you, I had some initial skepticism.